Engine case for fan blade out retention
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsMilind Khare, Srinivas Chinthapally, Avinash Kumar, Venkatarao Ganji, Theodore Brockett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A turbine engine has an engine case with an inlet and an interior of the engine. A bearing is disposed on a portion of the engine case. A fan is disposed within the engine and rotates with operation of the engine. The fan includes a plurality of fan blades, and each fan blade is secured at a first end to a disk. A second end of each fan blade is disposed adjacent to the bearing. The portion is oriented relative to the fan such that a reaction force of a fan blade impacting the bearing is directed axially or away from the inlet.
Claims19
A turbofan engine comprising:
- an engine case with an inlet and an interior of the engine;
- a bearing disposed on a portion of the engine case;
- a fan is disposed within the interior and rotates with operation of the engine, the fan having a plurality of fan blades, each fan blade is secured at a first end to a disk, and a second end of each fan blade is disposed adjacent to the bearing, wherein
- the bearing is disposed between the engine case and the interior, the bearing including an abradable portion of non-uniform cross-section adjacent the second ends of the fan blades and a bearing case disposed between the engine case and the abradable portion that has a bearing case surface disposed between the engine case and the abradable portion and that is oriented relative to a centerline of the engine so that a force on a fan blade impacting the bearing case surface directs the fan blade axially inward or away from the inlet and into a first trailing blade.
An engine case for a turbofan engine comprising:
- a case structure;
- and
- a bearing, wherein
- the case structure and the bearing are cooperatively arranged to effect a primary load bearing member such that primary fan blade out engagement of a fan blade or portion thereof is with a first trailing fan blade by the bearing being disposed between an outer portion of the engine case and an interior of the engine defined by the engine case, the bearing including an abradable portion of non-uniform cross-section and a bearing case disposed between the engine case and the abradable portion that has a bearing case surface disposed between the outer portion and the abradable portion that is oriented relative to a centerline of the engine so that a force on a fan blade impacting the bearing case surface directs the fan blade axially inward and into the first trailing blade.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.